This year’s “belg” season (February-May), started later than normal. This delayed plantings and resulted in a sharply reduced planted area. Official sources indicate that actual plantings are unlikely to have reached one-third of the planned targets in the belg crop producing zones of North Shewa, Southern Tigray, North and South Wollo. Rains in April were irregular, and below-normal in both amount and distribution. Weather conditions were also poor in the first week of May and as a consequence crops were severely stressed, resulting in a substantial drop in production from last year’s record output. The crops most affected are sorghum in East Shewa and Tigray, wheat and barley in South Wollo, North Shewa, and parts of Arsi.
The planting of the main 1997 ‘meher’ season crops is completed and a good harvest could be achieved if weather conditions over the coming months turn out to be favourable. Availability of agricultural inputs is reported to be satisfactory but the area planted may decline from last year’s level due to farmers’ response to prices of cereals which at planting time were lower than their levels of a year ago. It is too early to have an indication about the size of this year’s harvest, but is unlikely to reach last year’s record outturn.
The food situation at the national level remains generally satisfactory, reflecting mainly the record cereal harvest of last year. Consumer prices are generally stable, but there is a difficult food situation in several areas, notably in the pastoral areas in the eastern and southern parts of the country. In the northern part of the Amhara region, some 1.4 million persons are reported to be in need of food aid. The total number of persons needing food assistance is now estimated by the Government at about 3.4 million. This is sharply higher than the 1.9 million estimated previously and reflects mainly the inclusion of drought-affected population in the pastoral areas of the Somali Region, Bale and Borena of Oromyia, and parts of Southern Region.